The World Bank’s recent study on the overall ease of doing business shows that India dropped two places to 122 in the latest edition of the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report, after rising 12 notches last year.

The factors responsible for India’s low ranking, among others, include inefficient enforcement of contracts, outdated insolvency laws, delays in construction permits and under developed payment facilities; besides India’s contentious polity, with some regional leaders at odds with industrialisation. Despite its low position, India has been ranked as the top reformer worldwide for trading across the borders, one reason for the previously mentioned jump of 12 ranks over last year. India, creditably, made the reform of business regulation a policy objective. India improved significantly when it comes to areas such as getting credit, trading across the world, but its position has weakened in areas such as starting a business, employing workers, registering property, paying taxes and closing taxes.

It is worthwhile to mention that the rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates. This makes the report incomplete and does not actually produce a real picture of the scenario, which in other words means we could have been much worse than just 122!